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New Jan. 6 panel subpoenas target Roger Stone, Alex Jones

In the latest round of subpoenas, the congressional committee looking into the Jan. 6 attack is calling on Alex Jones, Roger Stone and three rally organizers to testify.

WASHINGTON (CN) ― In an attempt to dig deeper into how the Jan. 6 insurrection was orchestrated and the communications of former President Donald Trump on that day, the congressional committee investigating the insurrection issued another round of subpoenas Monday for rally organizers as well as former Trump confidant Roger Stone and right-wing conspiracy theorist Alex Jones.

The subpoenas call for Stone, Jones and three people who advertised for and organized rallies on Jan. 6 to testify before the committee and turn over documents related to the events of and leading up to the insurrection.

“The Select Committee is seeking information about the rallies and subsequent march to the Capitol that escalated into a violent mob attacking the Capitol and threatening our democracy,” said Mississippi Representative Bennie Thompson, the Democratic chairman of the panel, in a statement. “We need to know who organized, planned, paid for, and received funds related to those events, as well as what communications organizers had with officials in the White House and Congress.”

The committee has thrown out a slew of subpoenas in recent weeks in an attempt to further investigate the events that led up to the deadly siege at the U.S. Capitol by Trump supporters believing, falsely, that the 2020 presidential election had been stolen and the certification of President Joe Biden's win needed to be stopped.

According to his subpoena, Stone, a close ally of Trump throughout his presidency, was in Washington, D.C., to speak at pro-Trump events on Jan. 5 and Jan. 6 that opposed the certification of the election. Stone's subpoena also alleges he used members of the Oath Keepers, a far-right militia organization, as his personal bodyguards during the trip, one of whom has already been indicted by the committee for their involvement in the insurrection.

Stone was a close confidant of Trump's throughout his 2016 presidential campaign, and the two remained close allies throughout Trump's presidency, with Trump last year commuting Stone's 40-month sentence for lying to Congress about his communications with WikiLeaks.

Jones, a highly controversial conspiracy theorist who is in near-constant defamation battles over the rhetoric he espouses on his site InfoWars, is accused of helping organize and fund the events of Jan. 6 and of using his website to spread the lie that the 2020 election was stolen from Trump.

The other people subpoenaed Monday are Dustin Stockton, Jennifer Lawrence and Taylor Budowich, who are accused of organizing and promoting the Jan. 6 rally that was held before the Capitol insurrection.

The latest subpoenas come just weeks after the committee called for a group of former White House aides to testify about their communications with the president and other officials leading up to and on Jan. 6

Earlier this month, former White House strategist Steve Bannon and former Chief of Staff Mark Meadows defied subpoenas from the committee, claiming they had executive privilege and were exempt from having to be deposed despite Biden publicly waiving any privilege that may have prevented former White House officials from coming before the committee.

Bannon has since been indicted for contempt of Congress, to which he has pleaded not guilty. The committee has said they may take action against Meadows as well.

While there has been some pushback from prospective witnesses, the committee has interviewed more than 150 government workers, witnesses, and participants in the events of Jan. 6 as they continue to dig deeper into how the infamous day came to be.

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Categories / Government, Media, National, Politics

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